Spring Film Screening: Network (1976)

Network will be shown on Friday, April 8th at 7pm in the Stark Hall Auditorium on the Winona State University campus.



Network is a satirical comedy about a fictional television network. When UBS Evening News anchor Howard Beale (Peter Finch) has an on-air meltdown, an unscrupulous network programmer (Faye Dunaway) takes over the news division and turns the nightly broadcast into a circus. Success leads to a whole new slate of programs in which information is replaced by sensation, terrorist groups are given their own weekly shows, and Howard Beale becomes “the mad prophet of the airwaves.”

Since its release in 1976, Network has come to be regarded as one of the greatest works of American cinema. The movie was included on the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 Greatest American Films and in 2000 it was added to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry. Howard Beale’s proclamation, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!” has become one of the most frequently quoted and imitated lines in all of popular culture.

Network has also proven to be one of the most prophetic feature films of all time. The movie anticipated the absorption of television networks and Hollywood studios into corporate conglomerates, the corruption of news divisions, as well as the arrival of “reality television.” Network also articulated the popular rage that pervaded audiences of 1976. That rage is recognizable to contemporary viewers and the whole film is incredibly relevant to audiences of 2016. And Network does all of this while being wickedly funny.

Network runs 121 minutes and is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America.

Admission is free and open to the public.

You can find out more about the film here. 

This event is sponsored by the Winona State University Department of Theater and Dance, English Department, Mass Communication Department, the Darrell W. Krueger Library, and Sounds of Cinema.